So You Wanna Be a Rock and Roll Star

So You Wanna Be a Rock and Roll Star: How I Machine-Gunned a Roomful
​of Record Executives & Other True Tales from a Drummer's Life
     
Rock Memoir
​Jacob Slichter

As the drummer of Semisonic (most famous for "Closing Time"), Slichter has traveled music's yellow brick road, journeyed to the Land of Oz, peaked behind the curtain to catch a glimpse of the Wizard, and written perhaps the most candid behind-the-scenes tell-all, which chronicles industry intricacies seldom explored by recording & touring artists.  Beyond your typical rock bio, So You Wanna Be a Rock and Roll Star blows the doors off record label practices, how music really makes it onto radio, the huge sums of money involved in promoting and marketing music to ensure a hit single, and the financial realities and pressures of a band experiencing newfound success.  

Slichter doesn't have typical rock star pedigree; his Harvard degree serves as a hallmark, but Slichter's major accomplishment with this book: he writes in a style that's accessible to all readers.  While so many professional musicians work hard to preserve the mystic of how their fans perceive them, Slichter writes a witty, brutally honest book that never shies away from disclosure and self-depreciation.  Simply: the story is engaging, chocked full of conflict, and hard to put down.  

So You Wanna Be a Rock and Roll Star is a prerequisite for all musicians with stars in their eyes, dreaming of making it big and getting signed.  You'll never think of touring, music videos, Letterman and Fallon performances, and artist recordings and music packaging the same again.  Prepare for a roller coaster ride.